Buffing wheel



United States Patent BUFFING WHEEL Henry G. Zucker, Matawan, and Warren S. Wilkinson,

Rumson, N. J., assignors to Hanson-Van Winkle-Munning Company, a corporation of New ersey No Drawing. Application November 9, 1953 Serial No. 391,151 7 Claims. (Cl. 51-295) This invention relates to bulfing wheels, and .is directed to the provision of an improved bufiing wheel of cloth impregnated with a nondrying lubricant fatty acid composition.

A bufling wheel comprises a plurality of layers of cloth assembled into a circular body with the plane faces of the layers arranged more or less in parallel relation, and with the periphery of the circle defined by the edges of the cloth. Bufling wheels are often built up by mounting a plurality of bufling wheel sections, each section being itself a rather thin bufiing wheel, on a rotatable shaft, and securing the sections together on the shaft.

Sometimes buffing wheel sections are made by stacking together a plurality ofdisks of woven cloth and sewing them together. Sections made in this manner are commonly called full disk, sections. In service, a substantial number of the threads of each'cloth disk become unraveled and the useful life of the section is thereby shortened. Such buffs, moreover, tend to scorch easily at the surface.

Oftentimes bufi sections are made with woven cloths in such ways that very little unraveling occurs. This is generally accomplished by cutting cloth strips on a bias and drawing such strips into circular form so that the bias-cut edges of the strip lie at the periphery of the circle. In buff sections of this type (known as bias buffs) the excess of cloth is gathered into folds in the central portion of the section. In the finished section, therefore, the cloths are rather loosely compacted. The bias-cut periphery of such buff sections stands up well against the work being buffed, but the loosely compacted internal portions (i. e., the portions disposed inwardly from the periphery of the section) bend or flex. This internal movement of cloth fibers in contact with one another produces a rubbing action which, in moderately severe service, wears many of the fibers through and even causes such overheating that the fibersactually become charred. Obviously the useful life of the section is thereby considerably reduced.

Because of the tendency of soft bias-cut buff sections to overheat, it has become customary in the art to mount such sections on apertured hubs, so that centrifugal force during use of the buff induces a flow of air radially through the rufiles and folds of the section. Such ventilation of the buff sections reduces the seriousness of the overheating but does not eliminate it.

We have found that if the cloth of a bias buff section is uniformly but lightly impregnated with a nondrying fatty acid composition, the tendency of the section to overheat is greatly reduced. Evidently the fatty acid acts as a lubricant between the fibers of the cloth. We have further found that bufl sections thus impregnated are much more readily and quickly charged with bufling and related abrasive compositions, and that such compositions are held better by such buff sections than by conventional buff sections of untreated cloth.

Based on these findings, the invention provides an improved buifing wheel section comprising an assemblage of a plurality of layers of woven cloth, each of said layers being uniformly but lightly impregnated throughout its entire body with a nondrying lubricant composition comprising fatty acids. Compositions of fatty acids blended with waxes, and especially with the fatty acid ester waxes, are particularly satisfactory compositionsto employ for impregnating the cloth of buff sections according to our invention.

As stated, the cloth of the buff section should be but lightly impregnated with the fatty composition. Preferably the degree of impregnation is sufliciently light so as to leave the impregnated cloth substantially dry to the touch, and (at least at normal operating temperatures) substantially as soft as corresponding untreated cloth.

While the invention is of particular value in connection with bias buffs, or other soft buffs which "ordinarily tend to generate considerable heat during normal usage, it is also of advantage in connection with the more densely compacted butts, such as those assembled from full disk sections.

The fatty acid composition used to impregnate the woven cloths should be nondrying, so that upon prolonged exposure to air it does not volatilize (evaporate), or oxidize to the point where it becomes sticky, tacky, tough, or a substantially rigid solid. If such should occur, the composition would not function as a lubricant, and further the woven cloths would then be stiffened so that they would offer considerable resistance to flexing. Such still- I ening is undesirable, because it is often necessary to use buffs made in accordance with the invention to polish irregularly shaped surfaces, and in such service a high degree of flexing is necessary in order that the face of the rotating buff may be made to conform to the' irregularly shaped surface. Further, the cloths should beonly lightly impregnated with the fatty acid composition so that no undue stiffening of the cloth results, and so that the composition will not be expelled from the fibers when the bufiing wheel section rotates at high speeds. We have found that the amount of the lubricant composition most advantageously does not exceed 25% by weight of the dry untreated fabric, and for best results is in the range from 10% to 20% by weight thereof.

Any nondrying fatty acid, or mixture of fatty acids or mixture of one or more fatty acids and waxes, can'be used for treating cloths for buffs in' accordance with the invention. othersaturated fatty acids, mixtures thereof, and mixtures of such fatty acids with waxes are satisfactory. Of course, the use of any such fatty acids which are so volatile as to be lost from the cloth by evaporation-are 'of little value; and unsaturated fatty acids which oxidize to form tacky or solid substances are undesirable. All such compounds are included, for purposes of this specification, in the term drying, and are excluded from use in preparing buffs according to the invention by the specification that the fatty acid compound be nondrying.

Especially satisfactory compositions are prepared by blending a fatty acid and a wax. While the fatty acid ester waxes are preferred even in these blends, it is also possible to use other types of waxes, such as mineral waxes (e. g. paraflin wax), either in addition to or in Patented May 6, 1958 For example, palmitic acid, stearic acid and Also, various additions .such as volatilesolvents and .dil-.

uents, and small amounts of viscosity-modifying agents, surface tension modifying agents, dispersing agents, fungicides ,an'ti-bacteriacides,andthelike, may be included in the composition provided the essential lnondrying lubricant character of the composition is not alteredathereby- Following is an exampleof the invention: .Awater emulsion is prepared by intimately mixing 30% by weight of commercial double pressed stearic acid, by weight of a surface activeemulsifying agent, and 60% by weight of water. Woven cotton cloth of the same character as is generally used for-making buffs is thoroughly soaked in the aqueous. emulsion, and then excess emulsion is squeezed from .the fabric. The cloth is .then dried in air, advantageously in warm air. When the water has all evaporated, :the fabric .rernains lightly but uniformly im-- pregnated with stearic acid admixed with residual emulsifyingagent. 1

Another example of a treating composition is prepared by intimately mixing together 40% by weight of commercial oleic acid, 2% by weight oftriethanolamine, and 58% by weight of water. The triethanolamine serves both as a dispersing agent and to saponify the oleic acid to a :soap, so that when cloth -is impregnated with the composition and-the water is evaporated, the composition is nondrying .despite the unsaturated :bond in the oleic acid.

An example of an advantageouswax blend composition accordingto'the invention is made by forming an'emulsion of 1.5% by weightof stearic acid (double pressed), by weightofbeeswax, and 10% by 'weightof emulsifying agent in 60%. by "weightof water. After cloth has been saturated in this emulsion and the water has been evaporated, the cloth'is found to be uniformly-but lightly impregnated with a blend of stearic acid and beeswaxcoutaining some residual emulsifying agent.

The impregnated cloth, prepared in accordance with any of .the foregoing examples, is then cut intopieces of the-desired shape, and such pieces are assembledinto butfingywheel sections in the manner customary in the Bufliug :wheels and sections prepared in accordance with theinvention have been found to have a long useful service life. -It appears that the fatty acid composition which impregnates the woven cloth fibers, substantially abates internal wearand charring .of the fibers due to fiexingrin use. Further, the performance ofthenew buffs in-service is highlyusatisfacto'ry. The fatty acid, compositions with which the bulf fabric is impregnated .is chemically similar to the. vehicle used in many buffing and polishing compositions to carry the abrasive. It .is:,perhaps ,for this'reason that we have found the break-in time for thenewbuffing wheel section tobe .very short--v much shorter than :for conventional buffs made of untreated cloth; and throughout the entire life of the section it is very easy to apply thebufiing or polishing composition to the face of the section. We have also found that the impregnated woven cloths hold the composition better than. buffs of untreated cloth. Both of these factors lead to increases in the ease and efliciency with which buffing operations can be carried out with the new bulf sections, and result in economics in the amount of bufiing composition used.

We claim:

1. A bufi'ing wheel section comprising an assemblage of a plurality of layers of Woven cloth, each of said layers of cloth 'being'uniformly but lightly impregnated throughout its entire body with a lubricant composition free of any abrasive and including anon-drying fatty acid as an essential constituent.

2. A buffing wheel section comprising an assemblage of a plurality of layers of Woven cloth, each of said cloth layers being uniformly but lightly impregnated throughout its entire body with an abrasive-free nondrying lubricant comprising a blend of a fatty acid and a wax;

3. A bufiing wheel section comprising an assemblage of a plurality of layersof woven cloth, each of said layers of cloth being uniformly but lightly impregnated throughout its entire body with an abrasive-free nondrying-lubricant composed essentially of a fatty acid and a fatty acid ester-wax.

4. A bufling wheel section comprising a plurality of,

layers of bias-cut cloths drawn into circular form with their bias-cut edges at the periphery of the circle and with excess cloth in the central portion of the section gathered in folds, each-of said cloths being uniformly but lightly impregnated throughout its entire body with an abrasive-free lubricant composition including a non-dry-,

References-Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,511,245 TriSka Oct. 14,1924 1 ,633,523 Foster June 21, 1927 1,644,053 Ebbert Oct. 4, 1927 1,964,901 Barnard July 3, 1934 2,078,876 Hennessy Apr. 27, 1937 2,477,234 Brock etal. July 26, 1.949

' Davies' June 23, 1953 

1. A BUFFING WHEEL SECTION COMPRISING AN ASSEMBLAGE OF A PLURALITY OF LAYERS OF WOVEN CLOTH, EACH OF SAID LAYERS OF CLOTH BEING UNIFORMLY BUT LIGHTLY IMPREGNATED THROUGHOUT ITS ENTIRE BODY WITH A LUBRICANT COMPOSITION FREE OF ANY ABRASIVE AND INCLUDING A NON-DRYING FATTY ACID AS AN ESSENTIAL CONSTITUENT. 